Recession Catches Up with Iowa Manufacturer
January 19, 2009
 Last summer Iowa-based Rockwell Collins, a manufacturer of specialized aviation communications, was seeing strong sales and a 20-percent boost in profits. Help wanted signs still hung at their Cedar Rapids and Coralville plants.
Things were going so well the two IBEW locals that represent Rockwell Collins’ employees – Coralville Local 1634 and Cedar Rapids Local 1362 – negotiated a successful contract that included wage hikes and pension increases. (see “Airplane Parts Manufacturing Workers Benefit from Soaring Business,” The Electrical Worker, July 2008)
But the effects of the economic slowdown have finally caught up with the company, which recently announced that it would layoff more than 300 employees, 100 of them members of the IBEW.
“It’s a sign how bad the economy has gotten,” said Local 1634 Business Manager Debra Hansen, who lost more than 50 members. “I’ve never seen them lay off anyone in Coralville before.”
The company announced the cutbacks in November, saying that the credit freeze, declining military sales, and the order backlog created by the eight-week Boeing strike last fall forced the company to reduce costs.
Approximately half of Rockwell Collins’ production goes to non-military airliners, a market that has witnessed a dramatic slowdown in recent months.
“People aren’t buying as many jets,” said Local 1362 Business Manager Jerry Vuichard, who lost 53 members. “When a company like Boeing announces that they are laying off thousands of their employees, it’s bad news for us.”
The last day for the affected employees was January 9. Between the time of the original announcement and their last day at work, management worked with the union to provide resources for the laid off workers, bringing in representatives from the state employment agency, the state Department of Human Resources and the local community college to get workers signed up for unemployment benefits and advice on looking for new work.
Representatives from hawk-i, an insurance company that specializes in health care coverage for children, were also on hand to help employees find coverage for their dependents.
“I give management credit for communicating their plans early on and working with us to make the transition as easy as it could be under the circumstances,” Hansen said.
The workers will maintain their health benefits for 12 months. They will be kept on a recall list if the company begins hiring again for up to four years, but with the future of the economy uncertain, Vuichard is not hopeful that it will be anytime soon.
“We’re playing wait and see, hoping that the commercial sector doesn’t get any worse,” he said.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user Brian Indrelunas
|
Related Articles
